Growing Up

My sweet Ella Grace is growing up.  Of course I've noticed this over the past year, but it seems like over the past month she has become a big kid.

It all started with this:

No training wheels

She literally decided one day she didn't want to have training wheels anymore, and the next day she was riding her bike without them!  She has such determination!!


And then this happened not too long after:

See the missing tooth?

She was so excited to lose her first tooth.  She has been asking me all year long when she was going to lose her tooth.  You see they have a chart in her kindergarten class tracking how many teeth everyone has lost and she was (I think) the only one in her class that hadn't lost a tooth yet.  Finally, she made it :)  Just yesterday, she lost the one right beside it!

Not only has she hit these "first" milestones, but she is doing so well in school.  She loves math (definitely doesn't take after me) and she is doing well with writing and reading.  She just picked out a chapter book at the Book Fair to read over the summer.  She said, "I have to keep practicing over the summer, Mom.  This big book will help me."   Next week will be her last day of Kindergarten!!

And while thinking of my baby girl growing up makes me a little sad, it also makes me really happy.  I see the young woman that she is becoming.  She is learning important truths and truly understanding what life is really about. 

Just this past Saturday, Ella received Christ as her Savior!!  I cannot explain to you the joy this brought me.  This was a day that I have been praying for since the day she was born. 

To be honest, I always wondered how our kids would be affected growing up in a "ministry" family (Eric was a youth pastor for 5 years and now we are missionaries.) They see the good, bad, and ugly associated with this.  Also, they hear the Gospel pretty much on a daily basis (not a bad thing I know) but a part of me was concerned that they would never make a distinction between knowing the facts and actually knowing Christ as their Savior. 

But Saturday night proved to be one of the best days of my life.  Eric and Ella were outside playing in our little swimming pool and Ella said, "Daddy, I'm ready to believe in Jesus."  They started to talk and he asked her some questions.  Finally, Eric said, "Let's get out of the pool and go talk to momma."  So, they came in and she began to talk to me.

She said, "I wanna believe in Jesus.  I want to live for Him and worship Him."  She prayed the sweetest, most sincere prayer I have ever heard.  She began to cry and she said, "Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to take my sin away.  I love you.  I want to live for you.  Help me to live for you tomorrow, and when I'm a big kid, and when I'm a momma.  I want to teach my kids to live for you too."  There was more, but you get the point.  It was a really precious moment that I'm so glad I got to be a part of!!!

She went to school Monday morning and told her entire class that she was a Christian now and she was going to be baptized. She also has a friend in her class that is a Christian, and they decided together that they were going to pray before lunch everyday!! 

Even though she is growing up, I'm excited for the big girl that I get to see grow in her relationship with Jesus and show others her love for him!!  I know God has big things in store for her!!

Man, I love that girl so much and am so blessed to get to be her momma!! 

Happy Mother's Day!!

Enoying these precious blessings today

and my love

I feel so privileged that God chose me to be the mommy of these two. 

And hopefully one day soon, this little princess will be home with her mommy.

Until then, I'm praying that she feels the love of her mommy (and daddy) from across the ocean and knows that we are coming for her soon!

Also, thankful today for a wonderful mom, mother-in-law, and grandmother!!  I wish I could be with them today to personally say how much I love them and give them hugs, but phone calls and a blog post will have to do.  Love you all!!!

Wishing all you mothers out there a very happy mother's day!!  I hope you are enjoying your day as much as I am!!!

Love,

Brittany



WE PASSED!!!

COURT IN THE CONGO!!!

We are so stinkin' excited about this!!!  Isn't it funny that I just posted about really feeling the "wait" of this adoption?  God knew my heart and, of course, He is right on time.  His time!!

So, what does this mean?  It means that the court process is over!  We have a mandatory 30 day wait period from the day we passed court.  If there is no opposition (which we do not expect there will be) then Emmalyn officially and legally becomes our daughter!!!  This day just happens to be May 13, which is Mother's Day and would also have been my grandmother's (Emma) birthday, which is where Emmalyn's first name comes from.  I do not see this as a coincidence.  It's totally God!!

After the "wait" period, we have some paperwork to file, Embassy appointment, visa issued, etc. Then we get to travel to pick her up.  Since we have no control over the people or of the time that it takes to get these things completed, we still do not know when we will travel.  My guess is still another couple of months.  We are hoping now to travel in June or July!!  So, yes we are close, but not quite there yet.

But we are PRAISING GOD for this court process being over!!! 

We would love for you to continue to pray for us and Emmalyn!  Please pray that this 30 day wait (which is more like 21 days now) passes with no opposition.  Please pray for us to have the funds necessary to travel when it's time!!  Thanks so much!!!

Love,

Brittany

While I'm Waiting

The last couple of days "the wait" for our adoption has been very present in our family.  It seems so close, yet so far away.  Although the wait is hard, I know God has used this time to teach us and grow us.

Eric and I were just discussing the other day about the wait.  When we first started thinking about which country to choose to adopt from, we crossed many off of our list because of the length of time you had to wait.  We did not want to wait for years.  That's funny to think about now because in June we will be waiting 2 years. :)  But we see how God has worked and how His timing has been perfect.  A LOT has changed in those 2 years; we are using a different agency, we have a different house, we have different jobs, and we live in a different state.  But God used all of that to bring us to our daughter that He had prepared for our family!!!  We wouldn't have the privilege of being her parents if we had done things in our time.  Thank goodness He knows best!

So the last couple of days the song "While I'm Waiting" has been on my heart.  (You may recognize it from the movie Fireproof.) I don't know what the song was originally written for or about, but it speaks about how I feel at this point with our adoption. 

Here are the lyrics (by John Waller):

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am hopeful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am peaceful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it's not easy no, but faithfully I will wait
Yes, I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait

I will move ahead bold and confident
I'll be taking every step in obedience, yeah

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint

And I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You Lord

How ever long it takes, I will worship God and serve Him while I'm waiting!!  Praising Him today for His perfect timing and perfect will!!!!

Here's a video made to the movie Fireproof  if you would like to listen to the song.

Love,

Brittany





Happy Easter!!

We hope you had a blessed day celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord!!  We sure did!!

Love,

Britany

Who needs training wheels?

NOT US!!

Ella practicing with Daddy!!

Brayden's turn!!

How did they get so big so fast??



T-shirt and Adoption Update

So, it's been a while since I last posted on this blog.  Well that's because March was a super busy month for our family.  We had 2 straight weeks of mission teams, Eric's birthday, and a couple of little blessings come to visit us!! 

I wanted to give a quick update of how the adoption is going.  Our agency visited our daughter last month and so we have got to hear all about her, as well as their recent experience in the Congo. While they were there, they took lots of pictures and got her clothes and shoe size for us! They also were able to video her and we received that video a couple of weeks ago!!  We've watched it over and over.  Also, we are in the very last stage of the court process.  As soon as we find out we pass, there is a 30 day mandatory wait period.  After that, she is legally our daughter!!!  We will be able to travel hopefully soon after that!!  We would definitely appreciate your prayers during this wait!!  There are so many unknowns still and we have a busy summer planned with mission teams.  However, we know God's timing is perfect so we are trusting and knowing that God is in control of this!!

Moving on...to T-shirts.  They are ready to be delivered!!!  If you have ordered a t-shirt from us but haven't sent payment, please do that ASAP.  We are so thankful to everyone that ordered!!!  We have had several ask if we are going to do a reorder. It it a possibility that we will reorder in the summer.  Let us know if you would be interested. 

Hope to be back to blogging regularly again soon!!!

Brittany